Buying from a country with fewer freedoms and labour protections than your own is morally equivalent to implementing those conditions in your own country. The moment this fact is codified in some legal principle, the world will be a much better place to live.

Well 1.5U is the idea I found most applicable to the kind of work I do. I really hate the compromises at 1U. 1.3U seems to be on the market too. Anybody here have experience ordering stuff via Alibaba? There are some cases available Stateside but it's mighty pricey.

this is such a waste of energy and resources... for what? so that people can post pictures about their cat? and what happens when facebook goes the way of friendster? does this datacenter become a wasteland? how do you properly dispose of so much junk?

No. Then some other lucky company gets the deal of the century on a lightly used, modern datacenter.

I wonder if anyone does an organic computation of the efficiency rate for operating these server farms.

I believe the operating costs (taking in risks factor as well) are too high for the actual benefits (for humankind) - much like nuclear plants. Why does mankind has to slave for machines that serves up imaginary values in their lives?